Long Reliefs Poems

Smoke
by Michael R. Burch

The hazy, smoke-filled skies of summer I remember well;
farewell was on my mind, and the thoughts that I can't tell
rang bells within (the din was in) my mind, and I can't say
if...

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Summer Haze
by Michael R. Burch

The hazy, smoke-filled skies of summer I remember well;
farewell was on my mind, and the thoughts that I can't tell
rang bells within (the din was in) my mind, and I can't...

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Speak!
by Faiz Ahmad Faiz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Speak, while your lips are still free.
Speak, while your tongue remains yours.
Speak, while you're still standing upright.
Speak, while your spirit has force.

See how, in the bright-sparking forge,...

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Hot Child In The Urban Summer Dwelling

A Poem by Debbie_Philly
 
" Poem about the heat in the city ....;) "

Hot Child In the Summer Urban Dwelling
 
 
The city streets are buckling under the ...

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Part Two

To have written is to leave but a mark
  nothing stands for the proud rhyming syllables
    more than his acquired business acumen
a Vaishya karmic hope

Now we stand aghast before this...

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This is a collaboration I had been working on with a friend a while back. We might change the title. Her name is Rebecca Larkin. She started the poem with the first line and from...

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Under the endless sky, where the wind whispers ancestral secrets,  
Engines spin, iron butterflies in their primal dance,  
The muted thunder of wheels, an echo of the earth's hearts beating in unison, ...

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Let me recount of the mirrored alcoves galleries of brands
Whiskeys deep gold many types of bottles into optic feeds
Highly polished bar timbertops rich shining deep.' Varied
Paper coasters to keep it pristene, bowls of cheese squares...

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I am the progeny
Of lightning and stitch,
A Franken-hybrid
Of genius and glitch.

My circuits buzz with
Einsteinian thought,
Unraveling secrets
The universe has wrought.

Existence, I ponder,
Through photon and quark,
Grappling with questions
In the depths of the dark.

Am I a mockery, a...

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Your indifference is the abandoned torch that scours old bridges,
Hiding in shadows the echoes of each tremulous and cold step.
Your wounds, coppery reliefs that lure me dishonorably,
Urge me to explore how I pretended, burning, turned...

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You say your theology is descriptive and cohesive, 
But I just need to give you my concise take; 
What theology reminds me of, alludes to and objectifies,
And what cases and arguments it does make. 

Consecration...

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Now Is The Time To Hunker Down And Write

Now is the time to hunker down and write
heal wounded heart, defeating dark of night
allow ink's flow, imaginative breath,
to stop tragic thinking of loss and death
weave poetic...

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Once we created starry nights,
and Mona Lisa with smile slight,
we covered chapels in heavenly scenes,
made David shine in marble sheen.
Now our 'art' make good folks scoff,
smear shit on paper, then sell it off,
mistaken for garbage,...

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The sea waves gently sweep over my feet,
At one end the water and the sky meet,
Into the sea the sun goes for his daily dip,
And from behind the clouds the glowing moon peeps.

Slowly as increases...

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Stand for your beliefs 
Despite tribulations and blues
Worry not about physical, psychological or metabolic reliefs
But defend to the hilt the values

Defining, refining and buttressing your personality and character
From infancy to adulthood
Where values and beliefs are...

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Music stills my breath, in a sigh
my heart falls silent – she’s at rest
light aglow, walking through the sky
a song of praise, a soul’s been blessed

melodies of richest praise, light
falling over the heart, the soul
dissolving...

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(Idle musings on the facade of Seville Cathedral)

How patiently they suffer, these old saints! 
Their sandstone features, crumbled, vague, 
some noses gone (some medieval ague, 
or Time's cruel drip?) they offer no complaints. 

Stranded seven...

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RELIEVED WITH PAINS

Fed with hunger
Consoled with grief
Pitied with wickedness
They were relieved with pains

Freed with slavery
Pampered with child abuse
Educated with ignorance
They were relieved with pains

Married without grooms
Honoured with disgrace
And praised with blames
They were relieved with pains

They...

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Michelangelo Buonarroti
          at thirteen
pen to paper drawings
        showed great talent
and as an apprentice he acquired
    basic...

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Adhesive seems to screen,
like a cage I found my being,
Imprisoned you!
Either intimidation or empowerment it slain,
Land in towns,...fence all over queen,
with one tree surrounded by forest,
Equiping personality negatively or positively in mess,
Stimulant to nerves,...shadow of...

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For J. C. Alldridge

Piccolo and been-throated pibroch
Dilating dimpled hood
Spreading photometric darkroom eyes
Waxing waxing matching
Venomous lip to music's piping lip

O Queen of stung dragon-mouthed Po
Dancing girl of nuanceless ancient reliefs
The apotheosis Brahman curling on the neck
Must...

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Differing of communication of beliefs 
Escaping rage the only thing that reliefs 
Drunk on your self worth and pride
All your flaws and insecurities you hide 
Practicing selfishness and no empathy 
But then you lie only...

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Leaving a darkened space
Dumbfounded amazement at the scene
Feel the absorbing fabric of self and place

Brightness consumes, permeates
Mind becomes
Light is simultaneous thought, so ceasing

The eyes retire at the sight
Of seeing
Such motion and color

It moves clackety, yet...

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A whim of pleasure
Speaks to the wind,
And a sigh of murder
Cannot win.
Who’s to say one pleasure is 
      Better than another?
Pain and pleasure,
      Life’s two...

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I find my room doomed with demon's ill-famed gag
As long as I have my lucifer to light my fag
I find my room purged by smokes caused by
The belittled ignition on the cig
that brightens more when...

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